Aldo Maldera (14 October 1953 – 1 August 2012) was an Italianfootballer, who played as a fullback or as a wide midfielder on the left. A left-footed player, Maldera possessed an accurate and powerful shot, which earned him the nickname "Aldo-gol", due to his prolific goalscoring ability, despite his more defensive playing role; he was a hard-working team player, who was capable of aiding his team both offensively and defensively. Throughout his career, he was known for his pace, stamina, technique, dribbling, and crossing ability; his speed and galloping offensive runs earned him the nickname "the horse".[1][2]

Maldera made 10 appearances for Italy between 1974-1980. He represented his country at the 1978 FIFA World Cup,[4] and at Euro 1980 on home soil, where the Italian national side finished in fourth place on both occasions, reaching the semi-finals. He also made 9 appearances for the Italy reserve, B, side, and 1 appearance with the Italy national Under-21 side.[1][5]

Maldera was the third son of a family of Apulian immigrants in Milan. Aldo's older brothers Luigi Maldera and Attilio Maldera both played football professionally. To distinguish them, Luigi was referred to as Maldera I, Attilio as Maldera II and Aldo as Maldera III.[1]

Following his retirement, he worked as a football agent, and he lived in Rome with his wife. He also worked as member of the AS Roma youth system until 2004, and later also as Sport director of Greek club Panionios F.C.[3] with the president Zakiris and AC Milan's technical director Fabio Martella.[1][3]

On 1 August 2012 it was announced on the AS Roma website that Maldera had died in Rome at the age of 58.[6]